General Information

The highly regarded Keuzegids Master’s Selection Guide 2018 ranked Utrecht University’s Media, Art and Performance Studies as the best in the field in the Netherlands.

In the last edition of Elsevier Best Studies Survey, students have also rated Media, Art and Performance Studies as the best programme.

Video of RMA Media, Art and Performance Studies at University Utrecht

Emerging technologies and practices in transition

This Research Master's programme in Media, Art and Performance Studies is an interdisciplinary and internationally oriented research-based programme which offers an advanced training in academic research skills appropriate for today's highly dynamic and interdisciplinary field of media, visual arts and performance.

Cultural transformations

Contemporary media, art and performance increasingly play with and transcend disciplinary boundaries. Intermedial and performative practices both produce and critically investigate cultural transitions in today’s mediatized and performative culture. Such synergies invite to explore how emerging forms of media, art and performance – while historically and culturally embedded - interact with and relate to social and cultural transformations.

Emerging media, art and performance

As a student of this programme, you will be introduced to and specialise in new research areas and methodologies, necessary for investigating emerging media, performance and contemporary art forms within today's rapidly changing culture. In relation to this you will also reflect on the role of the Humanities in both academic and public debates.

A mediatised culture and society

Central concerns in this programme are, amongst others:

the role and meaning of (visual) media in a mediatised society, inter- and transmedial practices in theatre, dance, film, television, digital media and visual arts

spectator- and usership, the performative turn in contemporary arts and media

Comparative approaches

We approach this broad field from a range of comparative and intermedial perspectives, focusing primarily on the dynamics of change and exchange between media, contemporary arts and performance within a culture and society in transition.

Research Questions

In this programme you will reflect on questions such as how media have developed from the time of early cinema up to current new media art; how the definition of 'live' has changed alongside these mediatised cultural forms. How has the performative turn changed the ways we think about audiences? How do media technologies facilitate new methods of self-staging and social performance? What is the influence of media and technology on way we curate and educate in museums and archives and other cultural institutions.

In this age of selfies, datafication, (self-) staging and re-staging, and playful learning, you will examine how various media, art forms, and performance have been used for critical analysis, civic engagement, entertainment and educational purposes. You will do this by asking how digital technologies, dramaturgical and artistic strategies alter ways of dealing with knowledge production and distribution, and how these transitions have contributed to and also ask for new methods of research. Read more about our teaching and research environment, including our teaching staff.

After graduation

This programme will train you as a researcher within the field of Media, Contemporary Art and Performance Studies, to either prepare you for a PhD position, or for research-oriented positions in professional contexts of cultural institutions such as archives, museums, art institutions, theatres, for education, (non-)governmental organisations, or in creative industries.

After completing the programme:

You have acquired knowledge of the history and the state of the art in media, visual art and performance practice and research, as well as insight in current public, academic and critical debates.

You will know how to employ an intermedial and historically informed comparative approach for studying emergent media, art and performance practices, and how to use and develop research methodologies related to this perspective.

you’ll have the skills to critically investigate relations and transitions in the field of media, art and performance and are trained to communicate research outcomes to fellow researchers and other professionals, as well as to a general audience.

You are equiped with the advanced knowledge level necessary to compete in the academic and professional field.

You will have the ability to effectively communicate theoretical insights that will contribute to the field, as well as having broader social and cultural relevance.

You are able to reflect upon the social and ethical implications of developments within the field of media, art and performance and contemporary humanities research.

The Research Master’s is aimed at excellent students from both the Netherlands and overseas, who have a background in the history and theory of contemporary art, or media and performance studies with a focus on theatre, dance, film, television, and/or digital media.

Alumni of the Media, Art and Performance Studies Research Master’s have been successful in obtaining PhD positions in various prestigious international programmes. Graduates also find their way to other job markets. For example in the domain of curation, dramaturgy, or media consultancy. Read more about career development and possible career prospects.

Admission

Media, Art and Performance Studies is a selective Master’s programme. Do you want to find out if you are eligible for this Master? Check the entry requirements.

"By connecting research to current events, you become valuable both in and outside the academic world."